Saturday, October 28, 2017

Now that I'm stable in my new location, I've been considering what I'm paying for - and how I can optimize costs for the next 60 years or so I intend to live here. One of those things (admittedly small in the face of my current expenses, but a moderate long term expense) is trash service. I can haul trash to the local dump for $14.50/ton (with a base fee of $5 for up to 620lb). Toss in the diesel to get there and back, I'm looking at about $10 per quarter (or less) for trash. My current trash service is $222/yr. And, honestly, I don't like hauling the trash can 1/8 mile uphill to the street for pickup. Plus, I'm lazy about splitting out recyclables, cardboard, and food waste. So I decided to build myself a trash trailer!

I built mine out of an old pickup bed trailer laying around at my inlaws place. We live quite close to them, we get along very well, and there's an awful lot of stuff laying around for the asking if I can make use of it somehow or other.

So, of course, I did just that! Interested in the process of turning a half century old pickup bed trailer into my trash hauler? Read on!

Saturday, October 21, 2017

If a thing is worth doing, it's worth overdoing. Now that I have some property and the opportunity to actually build things that I don't have to take down, I can start doing things like building shelving that I expect to last the rest of my life (so a design lifespan of about 65 years - and that's a bit optimistic given my genes).

This post covers the overbuilding of several varieties of stud-secured shed shelves. My design philosophy on things like this is, "It shouldn't come down without bringing the building down around it." Overkill, yes. But even with the wood weakening with age in the next 60 years, I'd like to be able to put stuff on these shelves without having to worry about what it is or what it weighs. Maybe not Powerstroke 7.3L engine block, but I stand a good chance of, at some point, having some I4 blocks laying around to store. Or Wankel rotary engines.

So, these are my Super Shelves. Entirely overbuilt, as is right and proper for one of my projects!

Interested in the design and assembly? Want some tips for doing something like this in your own shed? Read on!

Saturday, October 14, 2017

A few weeks ago, I implied that I would be doing more "homesteading" type posts - talking about property, improvements to property, and the equipment related to doing such. And this week delivers! I'm covering how to replace the pull starter string in an old Briggs & Stratton Quantum Power 5HP motor - part of my walk behind string trimmer that was given to me from the back corner of a relative's shed.

You'll notice that something very important is missing from the top - the starter handle!

Now, there's an "official" way to do this stuff, and it doesn't involve rewinding the recoil spring. Of course, since my rope snapped, there was no way I could make the official way happen, so this post, fittingly for my blog, goes all the way down into the recoil spring and how to rewind that little hunk of evil. So read on!

Saturday, October 7, 2017

I thought I'd covered all the older BionX battery packs in my various previous posts, but I was wrong! I recently found out that there's an absolutely adorable little pack I'd never heard of before! This is a 22.2V 6.6Ah BionX battery, which is notable for being under the 300Wh limit that makes shipping really irritating. I'd never heard of it before, and the capacity is as cute as the pack (not even 150Wh), but it's here for a rebuild - which requires pulling it apart first!